Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 2.djvu/127

Rh likeness Benozzo had previously taken in Rome; with the portrait of the artist himself on horseback, the figure being that of an old man with shaven beard, and wearing a black cap, in the fold of which there is a white paper, perhaps intended as a sign or token; or it may be that Benozzo had intended to inscribe his name thereon.

In the same city of Pisa, in a convent on the bank of the Arno belonging to the nuns of San Benedetto, Benozzo Gozzoli painted a series of stories exhibiting the various events of the life of that saint; and in the house of the Brotherhood of the Florentines, which then stood where the monastery of San Vito now is, he painted the Altar-piece, with many other pictures. In the cathedral, behind the seat of the archbishop, Benozzo executed a small picture in tempera; the subject of this work is St. Thomas Aquinas surrounded by numerous learned men, who dispute concerning his works: among these is the portrait of Pope Sixtus lY., with several cardinals, and many chiefs and generals of different religious orders. This is the best and most finished work ever executed by Benozzo. In Santa Caterina, a monastery belonging to the Preaching-Friars in the same city, this master painted two pictures in tempera, which may be easily recognized by the manner; and in the church of San Niccolo, another in like manner; with two in Santa Croce, without the gates of Pisa. While still a youth Benozzo worked in the Capitular church of San Gimignano, where he painted the altar-piece for the altar of San Bastiano, which stands in the middle of the church, opposite to the principal chapel; and in the